Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission
Jeremiah Bideau never considered how he might react in an emergency, but when a fire causing damage estimated at $500,000 broke out at a house next door to his River Street home on Friday, he ran to help without hesitation.
“I never thought I’d be the person to help somebody like this but in the moment I did and I’m glad I was the kind of person that tried to help because [my neighbors] could have gotten hurt bad,” said the 19-year-old Mattapan man. “I can’t see somebody else like that. It’s not in me to just sit there and watch it happen.”
Around 9 p.m. on Friday, Bideau – who has lived on the Hyde Park line all his life – smelled smoke and then heard screaming and realized that someone was in trouble.
“I was chillin’ in my car in my backyard and the house that caught on fire is technically in my backyard and I was smelling smoke from it,” he said. “At first I thought it was fireworks because people are always shooting fireworks here. Then I heard somebody scream for help and the smoke smelled stronger and I began to think it was a fire. I got out of my car, not even thinking about it, and ran to the house to see if I could help whoever was there.”
What he found were quickly spreading flames coming out of the first floor window of 684 River St.– and his life-long neighbors, a grandmother and her granddaughter in trouble.
“By the time I got there, they were out of the house,” Bideau said, “ but the granddaughter was yelling for me to help her grandmother because she was way too close to the fire and wouldn’t move and didn’t want to leave a spot by the porch.”
He and the granddaughter were finally able to calm down the grandmother and get her to the safety of the sidewalk. But seeing the flames still pouring out of the windows, Bideau knew he needed water fast. He got his garden hoses and pulled them along as he climbed two fences to get back to the fire scene.
“I wasn’t depending on anyone else to help, but when I came over the fence, another neighbor already had the hose and was helping,” he said.
“The Fire Department told me I did a really good job and I did what I needed to do,” Bideau said.
Although the BFD acknowledged Bideau’s role in assisting at the fire and connected The Reporter to him this week, officials had no further comment on the matter.
The fire ended up causing more than a half-million in damages to the home. Fortunately, there were no injuries to the four occupants of the home, according to BFD officials.
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission
